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Villum Experiment: 52 bold research ideas

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VILLUM FONDEN awards DKK 98.5 million in grants to 52 bold research projects within the technical and natural sciences.

For the third year running, VILLUM FONDEN has selected innovative research projects to receive funding as part of the Villum Experiment programme.

The programme, according to science director Thomas Bjørnholm, seeks to reward scientists who question conventional thinking.

“The bold idea that you might not dare to mention aloud may challenge acclaimed research even though it doesn’t fit into the conventional peer-review funding system,” Bjørnholm says.

The 52 grant recipients were chosen from amongst 400 applicants, ranging in position from postdoc to full professor.

Applicants are affiliated with the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, the University of Southern Denmark and Aalborg University and hail from 16 different countries.

Read more about the projects by following the link at the end of this article.

Villum Experiment funds exceptional science and technology research projects that challenge norms and have the potential to fundamentally alter our approach to important topics in science and technology.

Batteries from rust, bubbles in ice

One of the projects, proposed by Wolff-Ragnar Kieback, of the Technical University of Denmark, will look into whether common materials, such as rust and seawater, can be used to store energy from renewable sources. The research could lead to the development of new types of batteries that can store large quantities of energy generated by solar panels or wind turbines.

Another project, proposed by Rikke Louise Meyer, of Aarhus University, will test the hypothesis that DNA can store peptides and other small molecules. The research could shed light on how microbial communities behave, while also suggesting new ways to exploit DNA’s myriad functions.

A third, proposed by Anders Svensson, of the University of Copenhagen, involves listening to bubbles in Greenland’s ice cap. The sound the bubbles make when broken gives an indication of how much air is trapped in the ice, itself an indicator of the altitude at which the ice was formed. The results of the project may make it possible to measure changes in the height of the ice cap during the past 10,000 years and, in so doing, give us a better understanding of how Greenland’s climate has changed.

DKK 98.5 million for 52 bold ideas

Search among grants

About Villum Experiment

Villum Experiment funds exceptional research projects in the technical and natural sciences that challenge norms and have the potential to fundamentally alter our approach to key questions.

The applicants are anonymous to the international panel of peer reviewers, which allows them to focus on the research proposal alone and give researchers freedom of scope in relation to their current academic standing.

This programme is advertised annually in an open competitive call for proposals. The grant is worth up to DKK 2 million and is for up to two years.

Read more about Villum Experiment here 

Anonymous applicants

In keeping with the spirit of the programme, Villum Experiment takes a different approach than other funding mechanisms when selecting grant recipients.

Applications are submitted anonymously and the proposed research is assessed by an international panel of 20 external experts without taking the applicants’ professional or academic qualifications into account.

“You need to make room for radical and bold research, as well as an alternative to peer-review when selecting who gets funding. We can use the anonymous selection process to help make sure the wild and offbeat ideas get tested,” Bjørnholm says.

“It takes a healthy dose of self-confidence to try something that goes against the standard way of assessing which projects – and which scientists – get funded and instead fund the projects that challenge the norm, but which may turn out to be the best idea. Some of the projects are bound not to lead anywhere, but it only takes one wild idea to change the world.”

Experimental programme

VILLUM FONDEN will continue to provide funding through the Villum Experiment programme for the foreseeable future. At the same time, it will be keeping a close eye on its outcomes.

A survey of grant recipients, according to Bjørnholm, indicates that being allowed to apply anonymously meant their ideas were considered seriously, and that without the grants they would never have been able to test them.

VILLUM FONDEN recently began a research project to evaluate the results of the anonymous application process. The project is currently in the data-collection phase. The final report is expected in 2024.

“It will take several years for us to know for sure whether the anonymity afforded by the programme actually does make more room for new ideas. But, because Villum Experiment is different than established programmes it is important for us to begin collecting data now, so we have it and can evaluate it in a few years and find out whether the programme lives up to its goal of giving unorthodox ideas the chance to become reality.”

Can we predict sudden climatic changes?

Applying for a Villum Experiment grant gave Peter Ditlevsen the chance to pursue a project without knowing where it was going to lead.

Technical and natural sciences

VILLUM FONDEN has the ambition to fund excellent research powered by the ideas that engage the researchers the most.

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